Ah, the old days…

I’m currently watching Opeth’s DVD The Roundhouse Tapes and it’s more than apparent why I not only started listening to these motherfuckers in the first place (even ‘Under the Weeping Moon’ sounds good here!), but also why I used to confidently say they were my favourite band by no small margin. Things change, but quality never does. As well, I’ve got to say it feels fucking good to watch and listen to this shit played properly. Opeth: legends, full stop. 

2012: A musical recap of sorts

Well, another year has come and gone. Do I really care all that much? Nah, not really. Either way though, 2012 left a decent share of good tunes behind for us to remember it by. My list is just that: a list. I'm not ranking it or writing a load of bullshit that no one cares about. If it's on here, it's good, full stop. Enjoy it or at least pretend to:

Anathema - 'Weather Systems'
Barren Earth - 'The Devil's Resolve'
Cannibal Corpse - 'Torture'
Dead Vertical - 'Perang Neraka Bumi' (War Hell Earth)
Deftones - 'Koi No Yokan'
Enslaved - 'RIITIIR'
Gojira - 'L'Enfant Sauvage'
Katatonia - 'Dead End Kings'
Meshuggah - 'Koloss'
Paradise Lost - 'Tragic Idol'
Poets of The Fall - 'Temple of Thought'
The Rasmus - 'The Rasmus'
Rush - 'Clockwork Angels'
Shining - 'Redefining Darkness'
Soundgarden - 'King Animal'
Stone Sour - 'House of Gold & Bones Part 1'
Swallow The Sun - 'Emerald Forest and the Blackbird'
Testament - 'Dark Roots of Earth'
The Wretched End - 'Inroads'

And that's it for me. I spent the rest of the year listening to tunes from 2011 or from when I was a kid. It wasn't the best year but it wasn't the worst either. Hopefully we'll have some good albums drop in 2013.

All the best,
BK

Rain and Filth

When it rains it most definitely pours. The rains began earlier this evening and while it wasn't full-on, it was on enough. The thoughts of rubbish, plastic and just general filth floating around will be dancing through my head while I sleep tonight. The four-month countdown has now commenced.

Fuck me…

My sanity has reached the end of its ropes

For a nonbeliever like myself, the supernatural is a bit of a joke. However, this holiday—while bringing its own share of surprises—definitely brought the biggest one thus far: I saw a fucking ghost. You can laugh—and you probably should—but it seemed pretty goddamn real when it happened. Now, I’m going to go ahead and put it out there that I’d drunk a few beers before sleeping. However, I don’t think that a few cold ones spread out over a few hours and then about six hours of sleep would cause this.

Anyway, I was sleeping and having a rather vivid dream. I awoke, turned to the right, turned back the left and there the fucker was. It looked like a small man bent down praying. To top it off, he was flashing. I blinked my eyes a few times, turned away, looked back and he was still there. I then blinked again, rubbed my eyes, looked again and there he was still hanging about.

At this point, I raised myself up and he appeared to turn away and walk off. I did the logical thing, which was to reach out and grab him. In turn, I smashed my hand into the wardrobe and that was the end of it. My travel partner rolled around a bit and made a noise or two but that was all. I then took a shower, got dressed and went down to the lobby as it wasn’t even 05.00 yet.

Now, was this all a bit strange? Yes. Did it shake me up a bit? Yes. Do I think it was really a ghost? No. Am I most likely fucked up, crazy and insane? Yes. Do I hope it happens again? I’m not sure.

You’ve just got to love these fucked up holidays.

Pretend know-it-alls

You’ve got to love them really. Nothing gets me harder than a fucking know-it-all. I’ve got to say, Indonesia is full of them and I don’t mean that in a good way. I’ve been yanked around so goddamn much in the nearly three years I’ve been here than ever before. What’s worse is how transparent the whole ruse really is. It’s not cunning at all. In reality it’s just foolish and stupid. Oh, and really funny.

I’ve had it all, man. It runs the gamut from pretend doctors, pretend travel agents, pretend mosquito sprayers, pretend hard-asses, pretend bus owners, pretend taxi drivers, people pretending to have a job and the latest and greatest: the pretend insurance expert. Man, the dogshit just keeps getting deeper. I don’t know where the lies end and reality begins any more.

Anyway, this is a short rant. My disgust has been summed up rather eloquently—and concisely—in two paragraphs. There’s just no need to keep the machine running.

We’re killing our planet and we don’t even care

Every time I fly into Jakarta I realize—well really remember would be a better way to word it—how strikingly bad the level of pollution and environmental damage there is in this country. I don’t notice it so much when I’m in Surabaya to be honest. I mean, Surabaya is polluted as well but not on the scale of Jakarta. I dare say Surabaya is clean compared to the capital but as with many things, clean is relative.

I was here just last week and when I landed, the air was somewhat clear. You could see the buildings clearly and the infamous yellow cloud of who-knows-what wasn’t wrapped around the landscape. The time before was just atrocious. The whole place was just covered in pollution. There are really no other words to describe what it was like.

Today it was back to business as usual. I thought we were flying into a storm but then there was no rain. I then thought that must be smoke due to the color but when we got closer there were no fires. I then thought that maybe, and I mean just maybe, that is fog and haze but no, it was just nasty, polluted, discolored air. Disgusting really but it’s an everyday affair I’m afraid.

Honestly though, it really hammers home just how much damage we’re doing to Earth—our planet, our home—and I just can’t imagine this will somehow fix and reverse course naturally. Nothing can handle being constantly abused and misused and I believe our planet is the same. Yeah, you can now bust my balls for flying since that’s a huge contributor but I do the best I can otherwise. At least I’m trying. I can’t say the same for a large proportion of people here.

I know it isn’t just Indonesia but there are some rather bad things going on here. You’ve got rampant deforestation with a big percentage done by simply burning it down, dubious environmental practices, non-existent waste management, a whole host of other things and corruption as bad as you could ever imagine keeping the whole system rolling right along. It’s fucked beyond all belief but that’s the state of affairs as well as the status quo.

Not too many people seem to really give a damn either and that’s the worst part. It’s the whole “it’s not mine so I’ll turn a blind eye” attitude that really just boils down to pure fucking sloth. Layabouts don’t do much of anything except lay about. I guess trying to get them to toss their garbage in a bin is about like getting them to stop lying about—impossible.

Anyway, I digress. I’ll never change one culture let alone the entire fucking world. I hate to say it but I do actually give a damn. I didn’t use to care all that much but that’s changing. I guess living around people so lazy they can’t be bothered to toss their candy wrapper in a bin will do that to you. The list goes on and on but surely you get the point. “Sparkling Surabaya” and “Keep Surabaya Clean”: words not to live by really.

Is this reality?

I can’t believe it myself but I’m actually going to write about girls and women for a bit. I can’t think of a good reason as to why but I’m going to anyway. Anyway, every day—and I literally mean every day—I swear I see the hottest, prettiest, sexiest or however you want to describe it girl I’ve ever seen. Today it happened in the office. The day before it happened—not just once but twice for fuck’s sake—in a hospital of all places. I’m always baffled and left thinking, “Is this really real?” I often wonder if I’m real.

This isn’t the kind of predicament most people would be upset about but for me, it’s just a case of how much can you handle. Honestly though, you can’t help but be a bit greedy and I can see why people are. Well, I did before but I guess I never thought it would be a problem for me. For better or worse, things have changed. As if my life weren’t already overloaded and overflowing with excess, it most definitely is now.

It sounds ridiculous but I was thinking to myself earlier, “The girl you’re with could give a corpse a hard-on. The last three could as well. Why do you even care about these random people? How can they possibly tempt you?” but that’s exactly what happens. It’s crazy, unexplainable and completely over-the-top, but it’s real. Is this reality? I’m afraid that it is folks.

Are the women here perfect? Of course they aren’t but none are anywhere. There are things to deal with such as culture, independence, religion, family, friends, ways of thinking and the like but on the whole it’s more than achievable. When you add in the layer of fabulous women to wonderful food and drink, generally friendly people, affordable and dare I say a cheap cost of living, restrained chaos, permissible lawlessness, danger at every corner and twelve hours of more or less comfortable weather, you’ve got a winner. With my snappy First Media Internet making it plausible to watch cheesy KISS, Manowar and other castoffs on YouTube daily, I’ve got it made as a layabout. Give me more!!!